MOSCOW - Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel on Friday said its board had recommended a nine-month dividend of 915.33 roubles ($9.87) per share and approved a stock split, a step that should boost market liquidity in its shares.
The world's largest palladium producer and a major producer of high-grade nickel, Nornickel this year failed to pay dividends on its 2022 results for the first time in 14 years, citing "negative geopolitics".
Nornickel's board recommended a stock split of each share into 100, the company said in a filing.
CFO and senior VP Sergey Malyshev said management had initiated the stock split to increase the attractiveness of investing in Nornickel's shares.
"Currently, the price of one Nornickel share exceeds the average price of major blue chips by several dozen times, which makes it difficult for a significant number of retail investors to buy them," Malyshev said in a statement.
Nornickel's Moscow-listed shares jumped to a more than 17-month high on the announcement. By 09:01 GMT they were trading steady on the day, slightly outperforming the wider index.
The split would lead to increased liquidity and reduced volatility, Malyshev said. The split will be carried out automatically and take several months.
The split will not affect dividends, the record date for which is Dec. 26.